Lady Gaga’s latest album, Chromatica, comes out in just over a week. Ahead of then, Gaga sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for a wide-ranging conversation about the record. At one point, the pair spoke about Ariana Grande’s appearance on the album, and Gaga discussed what it was like to collaborate with the fellow pop superstar.

Gaga spoke about how they connected in the studio and how she pushed Grande on a creative level:

“Her and I connected right away and she was so wonderful. And I think maybe she assumed that it [would] be that she came in and I was like, ‘Here, just sing this and thank you so much for your time.’ Right? But instead, I asked her what she needed, how she wanted to do things. When we were vocally producing her, […] I was sitting at the console and talking to her. And then I remember I said to her, ‘OK, now everything that you care about while you sing, I want you to forget it and just sing. And by the way, while you’re doing that, I’m going to dance in front of you,’ because we had this huge big window. […] And she was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God, I can’t, I can’t. I don’t know. Oh my God. Okay, okay.’ And then I did it and she sang, and she started to do things with her voice that were different. And it was the joy of two artists going, ‘I see you.’”

Gaga then revealed why at one point, she was “too ashamed to hang out” with Grande. The story starts with Gaga crying in the studio:

“She was like, ‘You’re going to be OK. Call me, here’s my number.’ And she was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. And I was too ashamed to hang out with her, because I didn’t want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful. And eventually she called me on my sh*t. She was, ‘You’re hiding.’ And I was like, ‘I am hiding. I’m totally hiding.’ And then this friendship blossomed.”

Find more from the interview here.

Jaden Smith is back with the new video for his Syre standout “Ninety,” two and half years after the debut album’s initial release. The video opens with the subtitle, “This is a twisted love story,” and tracks the young rapper as he roams a desolate landscape reminiscing about a lost love at either dawn or dusk. Flashbacks of Jaden’s good times with his paramour flash between his solo wanderings, with occasional captions detailing his state of mind.

Syre was a surprise breakout in 2017, garnering a highly engaged fanbase of enthusiastic supporters in its wake, which he leveraged on a slew of impressive tours and festival performances, including one alongside his dear old dad, Will Smith, at Coachella. Jaden followed up Syre two years later, introducing a dark alter ego with Erys and solidifying his newfound stardom into something of a veteran position among the under-30 hip-hop set. He closed out 2019 with a joint tour alongside his sister Willow then went radio silent for much of 2020, aside from sporadic examples of his signature, mysterious tweets. However, last week he determined that it was time for a “re-up” of his merch collection from his Syre era, and to celebrate, gifted fans the latest video from the project — if not the last.

Watch Jaden’s “Ninety” video above.

The world remains home due to the pandemic while LA-based singer Mike Milosh, who assumes the moniker Rhye, keeps up his creativity. The singer is encouraging listeners to continue to seek out the beauty in the world with his picturesque track “Beautiful.” Now, Rhye follows the single with an intricately-filmed video to accompanying the shimmering track.

Though Rhye’s “Beautiful” video features a few characters, the entire visual was shot maintaining social distancing practices. Directed and shot by Rhye himself, the musician was able to execute each shot while keeping his distance using a telephoto lens. Showing intertwining clips of women moving through a scenic desert landscape, Rhye’s visual reflects the song’s theme of finding beauty in everyday life.

In an interview with Vanity Fair alongside the video’s debut, Rhye detailed his inspiration while songwriting: “When I’m working on a song, it’s like the rest of the world falls away, and I’m in this weird little tiny world — it’s just me and the song that I’m working on. You’re in that very sacred, special place when you’re making something.”

Ahead of the visual’s release, Rhye detailed his 72-hour livestream project “A Beautiful Weekend,” offering his advice for remaining sane during quarantine:

“As we all share in this collective crazy moment that is quarantine, there are many ways to deal with the isolation, many ways we can truly fall into ourselves. For me, celebrating the beauty that is my partner has been a huge inspiration for me and a saving grace. Beauty is something we truly need to be open to in this moment. Find it in music, art, your loved ones, or yourself.”

Watch Rhye’s “Beautiful” video above.

Some Good News — the web series that pretends things are good when they are, in fact, bad — has been a huge hit on YouTube, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch John Krasinski throw virtual proms, officiate weddings, and get Brad Pitt to do the weather. “No matter how hard things get, there is always good in the world. Thank you all for making this show so very special. We will see you again,” The Office star said in the most recent episode — it was also the final episode, at least with Krasinski as host.

Following a “massive bidding war,” Some Good News “has been licensed to in a rich deal with ViacomCBS,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. “CBS All Access, which will be rebranded this summer and bolstered with more originals from across the ViacomCBS portfolio, will have the first window for the new episodes before they move to a number of the company’s linear networks.” Krasinski will executive produce the series and have an “on-air presence,” but not host. Is it too soon to suggest Morbo?

“Could not be more excited and proud to be partnering with CBS/Viacom to be able to bring Some Good News to so many more people!” Krasinski said. “Our goal was to create a news show dedicated entirely to good news. Never did I expect to be joining the ranks of such a historic news organization as CBS.”

You know what’s better than some good news? Great News. Bring that show back, too.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Indiana-bred emo rapper Lil Aaron stops by The Bathroom for an intense performance of his new song “BADSIDE” on this week’s episode of UPROXX Sessions. Picking where Horse Head left off last week, Aaron turns up the aggression on the introspective crooning provided by his predecessor, switching out the melancholy acoustic guitar for an aggressive, hard-driving electric one as he growls and threatens his way through the bristling track, warning listeners that they don’t want to see his “bad side.”

Aaron is remarkably established even at the relatively young age of 25. He’s written songs with superstars like Liam Payne, Lizzo, and Selena Gomez, and is a member of the alt-rap group Boyfriendz with Lil Lotus and SMRTDEATH. Among his other collaborative partners are a name that might be familiar to fans of his aggressive style of punk rock-influenced singsong rap: Rico Nasty, with whom he worked on 2018 single “Rockstar Famous.”

Watch Lil Aaron’s performance of “Badside” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Sister trio Haim was originally planning on releasing their third full-length record, Women In Music Pt. III, at the end of the summer. But along with the rest of the music industry, their plan was thrown off course due to the pandemic. After postponing, Haim decided to release the record early, announcing that it will now arrive in June. Now Haim gives fans another taste of the project with the upbeat single “Don’t Wanna.”

About the song, Haim cooked up three adjectives that perfectly encapsulates its sound: “This song rolled off the tongue, it’s sexy, flirty and hopeful.” Effervescent snares provide a rhythm for Haim’s loose guitar riffs and soaring melodies. “Well we both had nights / Waking up in strangers’ beds / But I don’t wanna don’t wanna / I don’t want to give up yet,” Danielle Haim sings.

Just ahead of the single’s release, producer and ex-Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij shared a behind-the-scenes look at the “Don’t Wanna” recording process. “got heavy on this on,” he wrote in the caption.

Along with sharing the new single, Haim has another exciting project to keep fans entertained in quarantine. Following the release of the choreography video accompanying their previous track “I Know Alone,” Haim announced an ongoing virtual dance lesson series. Taking place over the next three Sundays, fans will have the chance to learn the moves to the group’s “I Know Alone” video, along with dances to “Little of Your Love” and “If I Could Change Your Mind.”

Listen to “Don’t Wanna” above.

Women In Music Pt. III is out 6/26 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.

Another day, another new addition to the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.

According to Deadline, Arrowverse scribe Marc Guggenheim is writing a script for a new movie featuring Jackpot, a “crime-fighting mom” who has appeared in Spider-Man comics that Guggenheim also wrote. At this early stage, there’s no concrete information on which version of Jackpot will appear in the spinoff film. Because comic books be comic book-ing, there are actually two characters who have assumed the Jackpot mantle.

Based on the “crime-fighting mom” remarks in Deadline‘s reports, the likely scenario is Guggenheim’s script will feature Sara Ehret, the first Jackpot whose origin story leans into the tried and true formula of a good ol’ lab accident. Via Fandom:

Sara Ehret was a pregnant scientist at Phelcorp (a subsidiary of OsCorp) where she worked on gene therapy to cure Parkinson’s disease when she was accidentally exposed to “Lot 777”. The virus rewrote the DNA in her cells leaving her in a coma for four months. Coming out of her coma, Ehret went on to have her child Madeline with no complications. However, when her family came under threat by falling debris she displayed superhuman strength in order to save them. Sara then became Jackpot, a registered super-hero.

A second character, Alana Jobson, later purchased the Jackpot name from Ehret who wanted to spend more time with her family. Jobson’s tenure was short-lived, however, due to her abuse of the Mutant Growth Hormone, which would require the Sony movies to acknowledge the now-Disney-owned X-Men, and we’re guessing everyone’s going to want to avoid that tangled legal knot.

Jackpot marks the second announcement of a female-centric Spider-Man spinoff in the past 24 hours. On Wednesday, S.J. Clarkson was announced as the director of a “secret Marvel movie” from Sony, which is presumed to be the Madame Web film that was reported on last year.

(Via Deadline)

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Hi and welcome back, my dear isolationists, to Week 10. You probably didn’t expect to still be here — me neither! — but here is indeed where we are, together. Given that disbelief, I don’t really have a good pep talk prepared, but I do want to say thank you for following along as we followed along with NBA players attempting to navigate this suspension of their season and, like, time as we know it. We’re all, in fact, doing great because we’re also all doing the best we can. Except for P.J. Tucker, he is actually doing phenomenally.

LeBron James

What better way to start this week’s Iso Watch than by setting our intention for the week that was and the one that will be. Here to help with that is LeBron James. While I would extend a selfish wish that James had chosen to put forth this missive to the universe back when 2020 was still a twinkle in our eyes, we simply must accept it now and be grateful. I propose a toast to this solemn plea and oh —

— I see, James you have rosé on tap, wonderful. Salut!

Rating: Please.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Another powerful omen to start — end? Acknowledge time still passes? — the week. If you are, like me, not a fan of One Direction but acknowledge some part of their vast song library is lodged in your head rent free, or if you are a fan of the Freak, or if you are not immune to joy, then this will be a wonderful 0:52 seconds for you.

If discovering a new vocal register wasn’t accomplishment enough, Giannis also realized a goal 25 years in the making,

Big, big week here.

Rating: When “What Makes You Beautiful” hits? That’s when I worried for my guy’s noggin’ knocking the window, and of course my heart!

Russell Westbrook

It was Westbrook’s son Noah’s third birthday this week, and the little dude is a huge Toy Story fan. Naturally, he dressed up at Buzz Lightyear, and the elder Westbrook came through as Woody. It’s sort of a natural fit, and I’m not entirely sure that this wasn’t one of his pieces when his tunnel looks entered into their metamodernism phase.

Rating: Do you think Durant sits in the dark and listens to Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend In Me”? I do. Anyway this party looks cute as hell.

Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler is BACK and he is SHOVING heavily weights around his backyard between the hours of WAKING and DESSERT. We now know that’s his cut off because look what has arrived, fresh and frosty for him, four huge things of ice cream that he will put back before heading to bed.

Rating: A day’s work.

P.J. Tucker

P.J. Tucker is adept at taking care of those entrusted to him. He did it with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors, and kind of the whole entire city of Toronto, and now, sure, he does it with James Harden. Of course, we realize that to his family this is simply second nature, but it is nice to be treated to a glimpse of that care, like when he got his daughter a matching mini Bentley convertible this week.

Rating: Petition to make Tucker’s new nickname Tuck-me-in because that’s what watching him, on court or off, feels like.

John Wall

Here’s Wall with a gentle reminder that just because we can’t really go anywhere yet, and probably shouldn’t if we can, we can always go sit in our cars should we have one. Honestly for as long as we need to.

Rating: Open the sunroof, moonroof, window, whatever you got, put on your sunglasses and a complimentary outfit, just pretend.

Marc Gasol

Big Spain has long had a green thumb, and in addition to that, the man is a nurturer. He’s used his ISO time to get a jump on his vegetable garden, raising up these little seedlings right. I can’t guess the identity of one, let alone all four, based on their frilly, hopeful green tops alone, but that is why Marc Gasol is a more complete human being than I.

Rating: These are compostable pots, too, so he’s just gonna pop these things right in the warm dirt with his huge and gentle hands, water them, care for them, until their roots bust out into the open dirt. Damn I’ve never wanted to be a tiny plant under the care of Marc Gasol so bad in my life, and this isn’t even the first time!

Ben Simmons

To me, this is the modern remake of A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, but Simmons is just the age he is now, blasted back to the past in his around the house clothes, holding a goblet of wine and training knights up on the practicality of perimeter defense.

Rating: They ask him to take part in some jousting but he must make excuses, for jousting is the medieval equivalent of shooting and he’s just not quite there yet.

Carmelo Anthony

Sitting in cars was hot this week. Melo looked about a thousand times happier to be in his than Wall did, but hey, a car won’t judge you for the mood you bring to its interior. Yes, this is the caliber of pandemic content we’ve arrived at, reviewing basketball players sitting in their cars.

Rating: And you know what? It’s great.

JaVale McGee

McGee looked on the bright side this week, his bike got a flat when he was out for a ride but the occasion turned into the perfect time for a photoshoot. We’ve got “pensive,” “thoughtful,” “curious,” and “when does this bus come?” We’ve got proper hydration with a Gatorade on deck. We’ve got matching accessories to buildings. We’ve got a bike seat so high it has a different altitude.

Rating: We’ve got Vogue on the line and they want it.

DeAndre Jordan

Jordan is a person who is intuitive and open about his mindfulness practices, and he shared a page out of his own book. Does Lust being a flat line and a slower frequency mean it is always just humming there, the white noise of horniness? And how about Freedom being a tight, successive series of tiny little spikes? Can we get Jordan to decode this?

Rating: Is living the ultimate interpretation?

D’Angelo Russell

Last week, Russell had a baby chimpanzee in his house and while wary, we hoped it was the end of that. But no, he went in a pool with a panther cub around his neck and then lined up with several adolescent white tigers, capped the day off by riding an elephant. Maybe it was for conservation efforts! But this needs a little context.

Rating: If we learned anything from Tiger King it’s simply, no.

Lou Williams

Williams either dusted off or purchased anew an old Nintendo and proceeded to be completely captivated by all 8 bits. He played Galaga, he played Mario, you could see his silhouette in the TV screen and his posture was impeccable.

Rating: I would take a Duck Hunt tournament over NBA 2K any day.

Josh Hart

Some background: Before this season started, Hart spent much of his summer getting to know New Orleans. He visited its monuments, saw some nightlife, but a thing he kept coming back to were beignets. He ate some every week and would share the experience with a profound joy. This one, in a solemn black and white no less, really hit.

Rating: #BeignetBoys forever

Lonnie Walker

Walker’s Great Dane pup (yes, still a puppy) got stuck in his pool, but handled it the same way you probably do when you’re too nervous to jump in and instead opt to “acclimatize” as you pretend to be casual. Zola, Walker’s other dog, was a good lifeguard.

Later, a professional photographer came for a visit and captured a true tender moment, man and 150 pound child.

Rating: He just really really loves his dogs.

Jonathan Isaac

Been a big couple weeks for Isaac! He got engaged last week and now, it seems, he is also betrothed to the sea.

Rating: Love is love.

Reggie Bullock

Bullock went on a misty river ramble right out of Mark Twain’s — or maybe less problematically Walt Whitman’s, but really who knows — wildest dreams. He brought his loyal Doodle along with him.

Rating: He also may have been venturing to find his way back from the Knicks practice facility that literally borders Sleepy Hollow, NY.

Enes Kanter

Kanter continues! It is clear he will never stop. Whenever it comes time to safely compete again, he will insist the Celtics buy several (because he will break them, every time) waffle irons for their team kitchen so he can chase his true passion of putting increasingly messed up combinations in them as if he were Galileo, permeated with an all-encompassing cosmic goal.

Rating: Find what you love and you’ll never have a working waffle maker one day in your life.

Mario Hezonja

Checking in Hezonja and yep, he still seems to be spending isolation at Versailles and yep, it’s still an intoxicatingly magical place bursting with new pink buds, sweet droplets of fresh dew hangin’ off everything and what’s that there as he pans, oh right, a rainbow across a a cotton candy sky.

Rating: Historic revolutions were started for less.

Jordan Clarkson

Clarkson continues to treat these ten weeks of ISO as nothing more than an extended period of personal downtime. He prepared himself an immaculate shrimp cocktail and is ready to game without remorse.

Rating: Just do one thing for yourself every day with the care that Jordan Clarkson does everything.

Dion Waiters

Perhaps isolation has finally gotten to the freewheelin’, roller skating, bouncy castle indoors, Waiters household because Dion spent a long, long time watching his Roomba put in a shift.

Rating: Or perhaps he’s transfixed by a thing with wheels free to roam without human intervention.

Mo Bamba

Bamba took a Mo’ment (sorry) to admire his majestic beast as it reclined in its white leather car seat, resplendent.

Rating: It really is a great time to appreciate what you have, even if the dog in question here probably has more than all of us.

Jeremy Lin

Here’s Lin popping his head out of one ancient window on a recent trip to the Greatest Wall of them all. It’s almost like a message from the future that we’ll eventually be able to travel again, but also a simultaneous suggestion to learn from the past.

Rating: Also a reminder never to take Jeremy Lin for granted.

Amir Johnson

Seeing a lot from Amir this ISO and if this is a pandemic’s silver lining, so be it. He was worried his hair was turning into a shapely wig out of a Tyler Perry movie, maybe Nobody’s Fool, just like him.

Rating: A fan favorite wig, in any case.

Dwyane Wade

Move over LeBron, the NBA has itself a new Wine Dad and damn, he loves this wine.

Rating: It’s there on the hat, too, in case you weren’t sure.

In early April, Lil Yachty revealed during an interview that he planned on dropping a new album in the not-so-distant future, saying, “I’m about to drop this album. […] I’m super excited to drop it and just like… soon. Really soon.” He was tight-lipped about the project’s release date, but now he is back with more detailed information: He revealed that Lil Boat 3 is set to come out on May 29, and it will have 19 tracks.

He shared the album art on social media, and it reads, “The third and final installment in the Lil Boat series.” Also, like with previous Lil Boat releases, he included “33.7550° N, 84.3900° W” on the cover, which are coordinates for downtown Atlanta.

This announcement comes after Yachty released one of the year’s most entertaining music videos back in March, for the Lil Boat 3 song “Oprah’s Bank Account.” In the clip, Yachty played Boprah, an Oprah-like talk show host. On his show, he had hilarious conversations with the song’s guests, Drake and DaBaby. The song even got a stamp of approval from Oprah herself, as she said, “I love it. I love it. I loveeeeee it! Yes, I love it! I haven’t seen the video, but it’s nice to be in a Drake song no matter what — especially for your bank account, OK!”